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A sizeable band of the England squad were gambling addicts... one player was begging to pay a debt: 'I owe you £50,0000, will you take £30,000?'

I loved it when one lad in particular was in the England squad. He was either the unluckiest card player I’ve ever seen or the worst. I think he was the worst. I was just happy to take his money.

He hadn’t been involved with England much under Sven Goran Eriksson and it was a real bonus when Steve McClaren started picking him.

Every time we met up with England, I smashed him all week. It got to the point where he owed me so much money that he asked if he could pay me back in instalments and set up a standing order to deal with the payments.